The Opelousas courier., 1887-12-10
. The Widows Daughter.
BY ERGTGBADGER

In the winter of 1864, while a portion
of my regiment, the New York Twenty
fifth Cavalry, was at Pleasant Valley,
Md, to obtain a remount, word was re-
ceived by the post commander that a
Confederate scout named VIM.
BaxtG but who was known to us as
Chilly Bowlegs" was on a visit to his
mother who lived between the Poto-
mac at hat point and a village in Vir-
ginia called Uniontown. There were a
number of Col. Kane's "BucktaiIs"
scouting for the Fed2rals and making
Pleasant Valley their headquarters, and
as | had been detailed on several occa-
sions for scont service, and had made a
good record I was instructed to select
five men anil cross the river and secure
"Billy" dead or alive. The fact that
he was at home was fully established,
and the location of the farm house was
known to two of the men who accom-
panied me. We were ferried across the
Potomac n evening at dusk just where
the long highway bridge had been
burned and then we haoSotgalk Of abore!
eleven miles to make. sy5 L
Although 9sBilly Bowlegs" was a fearI
less man and a handy shot, we didn't
figure that it needed five men to cap
ture him. The country between the
river and Uniontown was then overrun
with bushwhackers and guerriIlas, anil
we anticipated more Or less troubb
with them
The scout had been twice captured By
the Federals, and he was described to
us as Of slender build, medium heiglR,
fair complexion and dark eyes. Enough
was known about his nerve to know
that he would not be taken alive il he
had anysshow to fight, and therefore as
we approached the house about mid
night from across a field we were
anxiously wondering how VIC Should get
at him. If we knocked at the door he
would be alarmed and have time to arm
himself. If we broke it in we might and
probably should find him in bed. It was
d still, clear night, rather cold, and We
hung about a half an hour before adopt
ing d plan. Then we decided to break
in the doors. Two of us went to thu
front and two to the back door, while
the fifth man stood ready to receive the
scout in case he dropped from a second
story window supposed to be in his bed
room. We crept softly up, and at a
signal both doors were burst. No,
they WEREN'T Neither Of them gave an
inch under the pressure, and III response
to the efforts wc made d woman's voice
called out:
nWho is it, and what's wanted2n
open The door or we'll break it
downln
Wait one minuten
She struck D light, and we heard her
moving about. and in a couple of min
utes the front door opened and d gray
haired woman of 45 stood there with a
candle hi her hand
s'Union soldiers. eha Come right in, =
she said smiling as if glad to see Us.
Iposted three Of the men around the
house and entered with the other, and
as soon as | was inside, I said:
Madam, we have come for your son.
We know he is here. We shall take
him dead OF alive. Z
oh, you have come for Billy, have
youip exclaimed d girl about 10 years Of
age who came running down stairs as
that moment. Excuse me, gentlemen,
fer not being fully dressed, but you sec
yeu didn't send q any word.
She laughed ii I merry way, while
te motarr smiled good-nat,lredls. she
haI ~ esf fitting caaieo dress gian
SeA II l hroat, and except that
han loogsd stnlnbleds she locked